US: Fishman & Tobin expands with YuniquePLM

Children's wear maker Fishman & Tobin is upgrading and expanding its webPDM software to the latest YuniquePLM platform to help manage its expanding global operations.

When fully implemented, the company plans to triple its current user base by installing the web-based tool in its Conshohocken, Pennsylvania headquarters; New York design and merchandising centre; Panyu, China development, sourcing, and manufacturing operations; and numerous regional design, development, and sales locations in the US.

Accelerated new product development and delivery, increased visibility and management of global business processes, and enhanced collaboration are among its goals.

“While our PDM system served us well for more than ten years, the expansion of our global operations and the addition of several new brands in recent years required us to implement a more robust collaboration platform,” explains Fishman & Tobin chief information officer Lewis Summers.

The firm needed to “connect all of our teams together in a single, accessible system,” he says.

“One of the main goals of the move to PLM is to gain a symbiotic relationship between our New York design team and the many locations that are carrying out the development tasks,” adds Amanda Lally, director of business operations.

“Currently, our primary means of visibility is through email threads and spreadsheets that require constant back-and-forth interaction. YuniquePLM incorporates colour and material management, style catalogues and line lists, merchandise and line planning, workflow management and much more all in the same system that we use to create our tech packs.

“Instead of working from independent documents and manually entering data into a separate system, our teams will build a complete product record in normal course of their work in a single system.”